Dragon — NL Crypto Stamp 3

About the Dutch Variant

NL Crypto Stamp 3 - Dragon is PostNL's third crypto stamp and part of the world's first quadrilateral joint edition. It directly follows the NL Crypto Stamp Bull (2022) and NL Crypto Stamp 2 - Lion (2023). With it, PostNL establishes a consistent annual release pattern for joint editions — a pattern that continues in 2025 with the Mythologie edition (Hermes as the NL contribution).

Early Release: 1 October 2024

The most unusual feature of the NL variant: it was released three weeks before the other three joint partners. While AT, LU, and BE uniformly published their variants on 21 October 2024, the Dutch stamp went on sale already on 1 October 2024.

This timing deviation is exceptional for a joint edition — for CS 4.0 Bull (AT + NL, 2022) and CS 5.1 Lion (AT + NL + LU, 2023), release dates were always chosen uniformly. The participating postal services did not publicly communicate an explicit reason for the shift. The asymmetry may reflect different national distribution planning, marketing campaigns, or logistical considerations.

For collectors, the early NL release has a pragmatic consequence: those who acquire the NL variant first can compare the other three variants only three weeks later — shifting the visual set experience temporally.

Design Specifics of the Dutch Variant

Designer Lisa Filzi developed an individual dragon for each of the four participating countries — the NL variant shows an NL-specific dragon that is independent in pose, coloring, and layout. Unlike CS 5.1 Lion, where only gaze direction varied per country, the four Dragon designs are fundamentally different from each other.

The NL variant shares with the other joint partners the overarching design language: rainbow-foil effect for the dragon and reflective eye are implemented universally across all four variants. The unicorn logo of the Crypto Stamp brand appears as usual on the reverse of the stamp block.

Postal Value

Like its predecessors, NL Crypto Stamp 3 - Dragon carries the value designation R for registered mail within the Netherlands up to 20 grams. This postal category has been the standard for PostNL since the first NL Crypto Stamp Bull (2022) and emphasizes the collector character of the edition beyond pure postal function.

Distribution

PostNL uses the established distribution channels for the Dragon edition:

1. PostNL webshop (shop.postnl.nl) — primary online channel with worldwide shipping
2. Bruna stores — physical sales locations in the Dutch bookstore chain
3. Onchain shop (cryptostamp.com) — joint online store of the four participating postal services

PostNL subscribers could pre-order the stamp as usual — this time with a special head start, since the NL variant appeared three weeks before the other joint partners.

Variant Distribution

Like all CS 5.2 Dragon variants, the NL dragon exists in five digital color twins:

• Black (~52.3%) — most common variant
• Green (~26.7%)
• Blue (~13.3%)
• Yellow (~6.7%)
• Red (~1.0%) — rarest variant

Exact per-color mintage numbers have not been published for the NL variant. Across all four countries × 5 colors, 20 total digital twins emerge for the complete Dragon set.

Secondary Market

NL Crypto Stamp 3 - Dragon circulates on Delcampe, eBay, Catawiki, and through specialized stamp dealers worldwide. Black variants trade in the typical price range of CS 5.x Dragon stamps of other countries. Due to the early release, early adopters brought the NL variant to the secondary market first — leading to slightly earlier price formation compared to AT/LU/BE variants.

Position in PostNL's Crypto Stamp History

NL Crypto Stamp 3 - Dragon is the third link in PostNL's crypto stamp chain and consolidates PostNL's position as a continuous joint-edition partner. With annual editions since 2022 (Bull → Lion → Dragon) and the Mythologie edition 2025 (Hermes), PostNL has established a clear annual release pattern that the collector base expects and that strengthens trust in the brand.